Christmas Interruptions
by lilAzIaNpride24
Summary: "This year, she was going to fly to her home state of Pennsylvania – Columbia, Pennsylvania to be exact – and finally spend some quality time with her family." Established Neric. Slight Densi Rated T for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This is my second NCIS:LA fic, but my first Neric fic. I'm still trying to a hang of writing Eric, so please cut me some slack if I get him wrong. **

**This is my portrayal of this year's Christmas. It takes place in the current season, but with established Neric. Nothing else is changed. Unfortunately, Kensi is still in Afghanistan in my world. Later though, I plan on writing a "spin-off" fic about Densi through this fic based on her in Afghanistan and Christmas. But that will be later on after I finish this fic. :)**

**Enjoy~**

**Disclaimer: I sadly don't own NCIS:LA. If I did, Neric would've gotten together much, much sooner. Well, Densi too. :)**

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The sounds of children giggling filled the cool night air as they chased and pelted each other with snowballs. The crisp chill of the New York winter wind hit Nell Jones' face as she made her way over to her car. She gently brushed away the light layer of untouched show from the car's windshield with her soft gloved hands and then proceeded to do the same with the rest of the windows of her newly rented black 2014 Kia Cadenza.

Intelligence Analyst Nell Jones always loved this time of year, but when she joined NCIS, the joy she felt for this long-awaited holiday started to fade. She had to lie to her family, miss the annual family dinner, and the Jones' traditional secret Santa. Soon, she had learned to live with it; she had made a surrogate family with the NCIS team and each year from that moment, the feelings of joy towards this lovely holiday started to grow back.

As much as she loved her family at NCIS, she needed to spend time with her real family. This year, she was going to fly to her home state of Pennsylvania – Columbia, Pennsylvania to be exact – and _finally _spend some quality time with her family.

She quickly got in her car and started the ignition. She turned the heat up and waited for her boyfriend to come out of the house with their luggage. As she watched him carry their luggage down the steps, she popped open the trunk and moved to the passenger's seat. Ever since she and Eric started dating, he never let her drive; much like Kensi with Deeks. It was sweet at first, but then it started to get _really _annoying, but she learned to live with it, along with every other one of Eric's weird habits.

She started mulling over all of Eric's weird and annoying habits, but was shook out of her reverie as Eric slammed the trunk door and quickly got into the driver's seat.

"Ooh, it's warm in here." Eric gratefully stated as he rubbed his hands together for warmth.

Nell just smiled and asked him, "Did you lock the door?"

"Yeah, I did. Don't worry my parents aren't gonna get ambushed by burglars. Even if they did, my dad has a shotgun in the closet."

Nell just gave him a snort in return and changed the subject, "It was really nice of your parents to let me stay, let alone let me take their son to meet my family during Christmas."

"Again, don't worry about it. My mom has my brother to fuss with. Plus, they adored you; especially my brother. Ugh."

Nell laughed as Eric's face contorted into a disgusted look. "I know. That was really weird. Not to mention, _very_ awkward. Doesn't he have a smoking hot girlfriend? Why would he hit on me?"

"Hey," Eric's tone turned serious as he faced her. "You're beautiful, Nell Jones. Don't sell yourself short. Pun not intended." He added with a smile.

Nell smiled in return, gave him a long, sweet kiss and replied to his sentiment, "C'mon, seat belt on, we gotta get to the airport."

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**A/N: Reviews are much appreciated. Thanks for reading. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I'm deciding to put up three chapters today and then later on, I'll add chapters gradually. I'm not very efficient on multi-chapter fics, but I'll try and get this one done. (Damn, I just jinxed myself.)**

**Enjoy~**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS:LA or any of the characters except the ones that you don't recognize.**

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**_In Columbia, Pennsylvania_**

"Just pull up right here." Nell pointed to a fully decorated – giant Santa in his sleigh and all - home on their left. The light layer of snow covering the front lawn of the Jones' residence really made it feel as if Christmas was really upon them.

"Wow."

"Yeah. Let's just say that in my house, Christmas is never dull." Nell stated as-a-matter-of-factly as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Well, at least it's not like theirs." Eric pointed to a house on the far end of the street that made Nell's house seem dull and plain.

"Ugh, yeah. That's the _Richardson's; _they've _always_ competed with my family the moment they moved into the neighborhood. But it's Heather you gotta watch out for. She always tried to one up me; even took a boyfriend of mine. Last time I heard, she was 'happily' married. Notice the quotes on happily." Nell said as if talking about them was like acid on her mouth.

"Well, she couldn't compete with your IQ, anyways."

Nell smiled; Eric always managed to make her smile. "Yeah."

"Which was what again?"

She just rolled her eyes at him and ordered, "Pop the trunk."

"Yes, milady. As you wish." Eric smirked as she got out of the car and did as he was told.

As Nell proceeded to get her bags, Eric stopped her. "I'll take care of this, go say hi to your family."

"Thanks." She gave him a peck on the lips and ran to the door of the house.

He smiled as he watched her run enthusiastically to the house and hug her mother as she opened the door for Nell. He closed the trunk, locked the new rental car, hefted up their luggage, and made his way over to her family.

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**A/N: Reviews are much appreciated. Thanks for reading. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! I know there's not much plot to this story yet, but don't worry. It'll get to that point soon enough. **

**I wanna tag an episode to this chapter - S02E21 "Rocket Man." I don't know if Eric really did go to UC Boulder and MIT, but I'm just going to go with those colleges for him.**

**Enjoy~**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS:LA or its characters in anyway. The only thing I own here are the characters you've never been formally introduced too. **

**P.S: In my world, Nell doesn't have a sister. She has a brother.**

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"Let me help you with that, son." A man – maybe in his late 40s – with surprisingly lush hair came up to him.

"Thank you, sir." Eric assumed that was her father. _Let the games begin._

As he watched Nell's father carry their luggage up to what he presumed was their room – perhaps Nell's old room or the guest room – Nell's voice shook him back to reality.

"Eric." She guided him out of the foyer to the spacious living room where most of her family was. Most of them sat around the coffee table or the couch while some were in the kitchen preparing Christmas dinner. The other few – the kids – chased each other around the house with foam swords and shields.

"Everybody, our little Nell is here!" Nell's mother shouted to the group and silence fell upon them. The silence only lasted for a few seconds though. When everybody looked up from their activities and confirmed that it was indeed Nell standing before them, the previous chatter grew to an uproar of greetings and excitement.

Eric stood uncomfortably with his hands in his pockets off to the side with Nell's mother as he watched all of her relatives welcome her home. It wasn't until a teenage boy asked Nell who he was that he was noticed by the crowd.

Nell looked back at him as she pulled away from a small girl's hug. "Oh." She walked over by his side, threaded her arm through his and introduced him to her relatives. "Everybody, this is Eric. He's my boyfriend."

It took a few seconds to gather a response from somebody. Another silence fell upon the crowd, only this time he could feel the uneasiness in the air. He was the first to break the silence as he greeted the crowd of relatives, "Hello."

While everybody contemplated what they were going to say next, an older woman came up to him and offered her hand. "Nice to meet you, Eric. We've heard many great things about you. I'm Nell's grandmother, Edith."

Eric gave her a kind smile and took his hand out of his pocket. Nell let go of her protective hold around his arm and Eric shook Edith's hand.

"Nice to meet you too. Nell has told me great things about you as well."

She gave him a sincere smile and returned to the crowd. Soon, the crowds of relatives were upon him. He received handshakes and hugs as well as the occasional death threat. Nell smiled at him in encouragement.

When everyone pulled away, she introduced them all to him. "These are my uncles, Joe, Rudy, and Paul." She pointed to a group of three men playing cards on the coffee table in front of the sofa. He wouldn't forget Uncle Joe anytime soon, seeing as he was the one that gave Eric a particularly scary threat.

"This is Aunt Ivy, Aunt Yvonne, and Aunt Beatrice," Nell nodded over to a group of ladies sitting on the sofa eyeing the both of them and making individual comments. "These are my nephews and nieces: Henry, Frankie, David, Timothy, Alexandra, – she likes to be called Alex – Katelyn, and Emily. You've met Gram already and that over there is my brother Isaiah." She pointed to the teenage boy who noticed him earlier."

"Nice to meet you all." He greeted once again as Nell shuffled him over to the kitchen. "This is of course my mother and her sister, - my aunt - Lydia."

Eric gave them a smile and greeted, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Wow, a gentleman. He's a keeper, Nell." Lydia complimented and gave him a warm smile. "Nice to finally meet you, Eric."

"So do you plan on marrying my Nell?" Nell's mother asked bluntly.

Lydia just shook her head in amusement and continued on chopping the carrots. "Ma!" Nell scolded.

"What? I'm just asking the boy a simple question," Her mother replied innocently.

"Stop harassing the boy, Martha." The voice of Nell's father drifted into the kitchen. Eric snickered inside his head. _So this is what Nell meant about her parent's role reversal._

Her father came by Nell's side, planted a kiss on her head, and greeted, "Welcome home, Nelly."

"Thanks, Dad."

"John." Her father held out his right hand as his left swung across his wife's shoulders as she prepped the turkey to defrost properly.

"Eric." He shook his hand and refrained from wincing at John's extremely tight grip.

"Would you like to help us with the dinner preparations, Eric? We could really use some help with the mash potatoes." Lydia asked him.

"I would love to, but as Nell bluntly put it about a week ago, 'I'm like King-Kong trampling over a city when it comes to cooking."

Nell gave him one of her infamous Hetty-like gorgon stare, but he retorted, "What? Your words, not mine." He raised his hands defensively as everybody else laughed.

"Boy, you better leave before she whacks you with the rolling pin."

"Yes, sir." Taking the wise advice from her father, he left the kitchen, all the while following Nell's stare. He gave her a slight wink and moved away from her proverbial crosshairs.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked away smiling in amusement. He sat down on a vacant leather armchair and watched the hustle and bustle of chatter amongst Nell's family.

He took out his phone and started going through his messages and found one from Deeks,

_'How's it going with the parents? '_

Eric smirked.

_'She's got a ton of family. So, it's pretty hectic.'_ He texted back.

"So, what do you like to do for fun, Eric?" He looked up to see Nell's Aunt Ivy waiting for a response.

He put his phone back in his pocket and answered, "I – uh, I surf." He smiled proudly.

"Nell told me your parents lived in New York." Another voice joined the conversation – Nell's father.

"Yes, sir. They moved there while I was attending college."

"No more of the 'sir' crap. Call me John."

"Yes, s-, I mean John." He gave Nell a smile as she sat on the armrest of the armchair he was sitting on.

"You surf?!" A voice excitedly drifted into the conversation. The voice belonged to the teenage boy who he was noticed by earlier – Isaiah.

"He does and he's pretty good at it, if I say so myself." Nell answered.

He smiled up at her, rested his hand on the small of Nell's back, and replied, "Yup."

"That's awesome." The teenage boy looked about 15, about 5'9, and had peach fuzz along his chin. He wore a worn _Beatles_ shirt, a gray Hollister hoodie, faded dark blue jeans, and a pair of navy Vans Washboards.

"Why, you surf?"

"Once; Mom and Dad took Nell and me to Hawaii. I learned to surf there, it was awesome."

"Then, maybe you could come surfing with me and my buddy Deeks when you visit us in LA."

"Awesome!" He turned to his father and pleaded, "Please, Dad?! Can I go surfing in LA when we visit Nell and Eric over the summer?"

"Sure."

"Thank you!" He gave his father a quick hug and bounded up the steps to his room.

"That was nice of you. Thanks for giving my brother that." Nell told him and he turned to face her.

"Anytime." She smiled appreciatively and leaned in for a kiss.

When they pulled away, Nell could see out of the corner of her eye, her family smiling.

"Ewwwwwwwwww, cooties," shouted the youngest of Nell's nephews and nieces, Frankie and Emily.

Eric just smiled.

"So, Eric, where did you go to school?" One of Nell's uncles – Uncle Joe – asked him.

"Colorado, sir; UC Boulder."

"Colorado? Aren't schools there very lacking?"

"Joe!" One of Nell's aunts – Ivy – hit him slightly on his arm.

"What, I'm just asking the boy a question, Ivy!"

"No, it's okay," Eric started. "I wouldn't know, sir. I was born and raised in Los Angeles and I only went to Colorado to complete my undergrad at UC Boulder. I went to MIT for my masters in computer science."

"Oh. That's good, son." Joe replied dejectedly. He obviously wanted to one-up Eric and look for weaknesses.

Nell wanted to burst out laughing and so did the rest of the family members, – she could tell – but they all refrained from doing so.

Wanting to save her bull-headed son from further embarrassment, Edith cut into the conversation and asked Eric, "Computer science, huh?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"What do you do for a living? Nell never really told us."

He looked up at Nell, confirmed her thoughts and lied, "I used to be a professional blackjack player, that is, until I got kicked out of Atlantic City, but I'm a technical operator for several companies now."

That's when the rest of Nell's uncles finally paid attention to the conversation. "You were a professional blackjack player?"

Nell shook her head, smiling all the while and dragged Eric to their room, "Let's go get settled in, Eric."

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**A/N: Reviews are much appreciated! Thanks for reading. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! This is a short chapter, but a really cute one none-the-less. :) **

**So, do you guys remember what I said about my Densi spin-off a couple chapters back? Well, it was going to be about Hetty giving Deeks a gift (a phone call) to contact and surprise Kensi. And then, NCISLA did it and at first I was excited that my idea for a fic was the same as the Christmas episode and then I got frustrated. How am I supposed to write a fic about it? Well, I'm just gonna continue with the idea for my fic that I had before. **

**Anyways, enough of me rambling. As always, enjoy~**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCISLA or any of its characters, but that little coincidence of my idea for a fic and it actually happening makes me wonder. Hmmmmm?**

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Nell was extremely glad to be home. She'd been homesick for a while and this visit to her family during Christmas was just what she needed.

She leaned against the rail of her bedroom's balcony and watched her nieces and nephew engage in a pretty epic snowball -fight. Currently, it was boys vs. girls, the girls pummeling the boys with a launch of a dozen snowballs. She started to think about the times she used to have snowball fights with her cousins from Louisiana when she felt two arms slide around her small waist and a warm body pressed against her own.

"Hey." His voice was soft and comforting, filling her cool body with warmth; much like a hot mug full of cinnamon-apple tea in the cold snow-filled winter.

"Hey." Nell leaned into his touch as he held her tightly. "Thanks for coming here with me. I know you hate wearing pants." She gave him a grateful smile.

Eric laughed in return. "Well, I do hate wearing pants, but I would do anything for you Nell. I even wore tights for you!"

Nell's laughter warmed his heart and made him feel like he was the luckiest man alive. Her whole body shook with laughter as she recalled that specific memory with a smile.

"Oh my god, that was the best moment of my life. You did look cute in that elf costume though."

"Well, you looked 'elfin'." Eric replied as he proceeded to place small kisses on the crook of her neck.

Closing her eyes and tilting her neck slightly, Nell felt like there was no one else in the world but them. Just having Eric with her during Christmas was the greatest Christmas gift she could ever have. As glad as she was to be back home, she was even happier to have her loving boyfriend by her side.

As she gave him a small content moan, Eric slipped his Christmas present to Nell around her neck with subtlety. '_He would've made an awesome ninja in his past life._' He thought to himself. Distracting Nell further from noticing the silver locket around her neck, he slowly lifted a small cluster of leaves tied with a velvet red ribbon above them.

"Mistletoe," he whispered in her ear.

Nell opened her eyes slowly and saw Eric was indeed holding mistletoe above them.

"Remember what happened last Christmas?"

"How could I forget?" Nell said teasingly as she turned in Eric's arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tiptoed, their lips just centimeters of each other. She ghosted her lips across Eric and looked into his clear blue orbs.

"Merry Christmas, Eric."

"Merry Christmas, Nell." And with that he closed the tiny gap between the two of them and embraced her in his arms. The mistletoe had been forgotten on the floor of the balcony as Eric and Nell delved into each other with a slow, long kiss.

If Eric could kiss her all day long, he would've, but his lungs screamed for a damned thing called oxygen. Slowly, he reluctantly pulled away from Nell. Not wanting to separate from her any further, he leaned his forehead against hers and gave her a charming smile. Their lips were once again, centimeters from each other; their breaths' ghosting past each other's swollen lips.

"I think we should make this a tradition." He whispered to her.

"I think that has to be the best idea you've had all day." Nell replied, and with that, she kissed him again.

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Heather Richardson was a simple girl. All she wanted was to enjoy life and make Nell Jones' life miserable. Why did she hate Nell Jones so much? It all started when they were in high school together. She was so smart, so talented, and so liked and her? Well, Heather Richardson wasn't entirely liked amongst her fellow peers. She didn't know why the hell they didn't like her. She was gorgeous and amazing. Not to mention, she was secretly rich. See, her parents were criminals. Yes, criminals.

Her parents, Francis and Wendy, were thieves. They robbed banks, houses, and people; it was just their thing. Heather Richardson didn't mind much, as long as their criminal activities didn't get in the way of her plans to make Nell Jones' life miserable.

So as she watched Nell and her 'boyfriend' make out from below, she thought about how her parents' criminal activities as well as her husband's and her plan to make Nell's life miserable could intersect. _Oh, this was going to be fun._

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**A/N: Reviews are much appreciated. :) Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! I finally updated! I'm not gonna lie and say that I was busy and blah blah blah, etc. I was actually relishing in my winter break from school. Yay. :D Anyways, I hoped everyone had a great Christmas! Happy Holidays everyone! 3**

**Enjoy~**

**P.S: Forget what I said about Nell not having a sister in my world. I just realized that Nell's family line is kinda messed up, so I'm gonna fix that next chapter. Ooh, I also set up the plot for my Densi fic this chapter. Eeek! :P**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS:LA nor any of its characters. I only own the characters that you guys obviously don't find familiar. :)**

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Nell hated lying to her parents. Sure, she annoyed them to hell when she was younger, but who could really blame her? After all, she was a teenager back then. But lying to her parents? No. That was a thing she hated to do, so when she had to lie to her parents about her job, she almost cried the day after.

When she gave Eric permission to lie to her parents about his job, she felt equally disgusted with herself. But she wasn't going to cry. She wasn't. She had learned to live with the consequences of her job at OSP and if lying to her parents and the rest of her family about her and Eric's job kept them safe, that's what she would do. Of course, she could just tell them. Hetty had told Nell that she could, but she didn't want to. Nell thought that her family not knowing about her job at NCIS was a good thing. It definitely made them worry a lot less about her in California, but she felt that the truth would eventually come out, so better late than never right? So, she made her decision to tell them that she, Nell Jones, was an intelligence analyst for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Office of Special Projects based out of California and was currently in training to become a field agent. Yes, she would _definitely_ tell them. Okay, not definitely, maybe. _Maybe_ she would tell them.

"Hey, whatcha thinking about?" Eric's voice shook her out of her train of thought.

"Hmm?" She asked as she turned her head to him. They were laying down in her old bed now; Eric on his laptop, finishing a report for the case they just wrapped up while Nell was blankly staring at an open magazine.

"I asked you what you were thinking about."

"Oh. Sorry, it's nothing to worry about; just some random stuff."

Not fully believing her, but not wanting to push Nell into saying something she wasn't ready for, he changed the subject and asked her, "So, what did Hetty give you for Christmas? Did she re-gift you a present this year?"

"What makes you think that Hetty gave me something?"

"She gave everyone something." Eric stated obviously.

"Really?"

"Yup. She gave me a cashmere scarf. It's amazingly soft."

Nell chuckled and asked, "What did she give everyone else?"

"I don't know about Callen or Sam, but I know she gave Deeks a phone call."

"A phone call?" She asked, curiosity laced in her voice.

"To Kensi."

"Ohhhhh. Wow. He must be relishing in it now."

"Nah. He told me he was gonna call her right on the stroke of midnight in America."

"Why America?"

"'Cause Deeks doesn't know where she is. He's tryna be all romantic and stuff. Anyways, what did Hetty give you?"

"She gave me a permit allowing me to fly with my service weapon."

"Really?" He asked, obviously surprised.

"Yeah. She told me that it's better to be safe than sorry."

"So you have your gun on you right now?" Eric asked, his question laced with curiosity.

"Yeah… Why?" She was oddly suspicious now.

He shrugged, "That's really sexy."

Nell laughed at him, "You think everything is sexy."

"Well, it is when you do it." He stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

"You know, if everyone wasn't downstairs where they could hear us, you might've gotten lucky."

"I promise to be quiet."

"Yeah, right…"

"Hey! You're not that innocent either." Eric retorted, pretending to feel wounded by her comment.

"True, but you know, if you didn't like it, you could've just said so." She proceeded to leave the room, knowing that Eric's feelings were the exact opposite.

She smirked as she heard him call after her. She proceeded down the stairs to the living room where everybody was still gathered, her nieces and nephews still playing outside.

She was still smiling uncontrollably as Eric hurried down the steps. She was stopped by her Aunt Lydia who had a surprised look on her face.

"What's that?"

Nell looked down at the object her aunt was talking about and saw Eric come to a stop beside her.

"Huh?" She took off the foreign object that was around her neck and fingered it. "What's this?" She asked, genuinely curious about the locket. She looked up at Eric who replied sheepishly, "Open it."

The locket was silver and had real gold embroidering. It looked like one of the books used to tell fairytales in the movies. It even had a little tiny strap holding it together. She ran her thumb over the eloquent locket and smiled tentatively at Eric, tears forming at the corner of her eyes. She unstrapped the locket's strap and found each side with pictures of them. On the left side was a picture that was taken at the beach around sunset. He had wrapped his arms around her from behind (like he always did), rose up his camera, and told her to smile, to which she complied. He kissed her temple softly and she closed her eyes as he took the picture. On the right was a picture of them that he took when they were really bored at home and they had nothing else better to do, which in fact led to a _really_ great night.

Nell ran her thumb along the edge of the right picture as a tear rolled its way to her cheek. Her nail caught on a little latch and found a little secret compartment. Engraved in the center was an outline of a heart and in the middle an inscription was engraved also. It read:

**_294_****_118_****_Uuo _**

**_183.84_****_74_****_W _**

Tears were flowing freely from her eyes now. She looked at her boyfriend and gave him a little smile that all but melted his heart. "This is perfect Eric. Thank you."

He gave her a smile of his own back and wrapped her in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and whispered to her, "You're welcome."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nell's father with his arm wrapped around his wife's shoulders while her mother and her Aunt Lydia smiled and looked at each other with tears in their eyes as well. He knew he had Christmas in the bag this year.

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**A/N: Reviews are much appreciated. They're like cookies and milk to Santa, in which in this analogy I'm Santa... And reviews are milk and cookies. Okay, I'm gonna stop over explaining now. Thanks for reading! **

**A Little Chemistry Lesson: For those of you that don't know, ****_Uuo, _****is the symbol for Ununoctium. The 294 represents its atomic mass****_ (the number of protons + neutrons) _****and the 118 represents its atomic number****_ (the number of protons which is also the number of_****_electrons_****).********Same goes for, ****_W, _**** which is the symbol for Tungsten, formerly known as Wolfram. 183.84 is its atomic mass and 74 is its atomic number. I didn't write it as it's supposed to be written, but WORD didn't allow me to write it in the regular way, so... yeah. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while and while you guys might think my excuse is BS, it's actually not. I have finals coming up and had tons of essays to write. I even had to re-do my English project. The cycle (marking period) is almost up, so I have to do my best to get up grades up. Next week or so is Regents Week, so I'm going to have days off. I'm only a sophomore and didn't fail any of the regents I already took, so I don't have to attend. If you're a White Collar fan, I have a fic in progress, so stay tuned for that! :D**

**Enjoy~**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS:Los Angeles or any of the characters, though if I did, the 18th episode that's said to include a giant shocker for Densi would include Kensi's ex-fiance, Jack. That still might happen though, we never know. **

**P.S: Congrats to Daniela Ruah and her fiance, David Paul Olsen on their new baby boy! :D :3**

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All the kids had fallen asleep while the rest of her relatives were watching Miracle on 34th Street for the nth time. Tired of watching the same movie Christmas after Christmas, she poured herself some wine and went out onto her parents' patio for some alone time. Eric snuck up behind her and refilled her now empty wine glass.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" She asked him, her question laced with subtle teasing.

"Not drunk. Maybe a little tipsy, though." He flashed a smile at her and filled his own wine glass too.

"To us." He raised his glass to her and she clinked it. Taking a little sip, she turned away from him and took a deep breath. Their glasses stood gently on the wood railing they were leaning on as she closed her eyes.

Eric placed a gentle kiss on her neck and then kissed the top of her head as he held her tightly in his arms.

"I love you." Eric whispered in her ear.

Her eyes still closed, a smile stretched across her face and she leaned back in his arms. This was her first _real_ relationship and Eric's longest. They had been dating for over a year now and were crazy in love. However, neither of them actually told each other that they loved one another; they were too afraid to. But in this very moment, all of their fears melted away, especially Eric's. Having her in his arms felt like the best feeling in the world and it only got better when she turned around in his arms, faced him, wrapped her arms around his neck, looked straight into his eyes, smiled, and returned the sentiment.

A wide smile spread across his own face as he wrapped his arms around her and bent down to kiss her. It was slow and passionate; the cold being deferred away momentarily as the heat between the two rose immensely and filled the chilly winter air. Lost in the deep meaningful kiss, the couple didn't notice the group of people that walked up the porch steps.

A teasing wert whirl whistle followed by laughter was what broke the heated moment. Embarrassed, Nell reluctantly pulled herself away from Eric once she saw who the people were. Eric let out a cough and quickly wiped his lips as Nell looked away and started to blush. Her hand rose instinctively to her lips and out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the women give her a smile and a look.

"Ahem," she nervously cleared her throat and introduced the group to Eric. The group consisted of three men and three women. In their arms were giant brown paper bags and big named franchise bags filled with groceries, decorations, and presents.

"Eric, this is my older brother, Kyle and his wife, Melissa. They're Emily and David's parents." Nell motioned to a well-dressed man in his early to mid-30s and a modest-looking woman in her late 20s as Eric put his hands into his pockets and Nell instinctively slid her arm through his out of habit. Eric couldn't help but smile.

"Hello," he greeted.

They smiled in return as Nell introduced the next couple, "This is my other older brother, Jeremy and his wife, Leah. They're Frankie's and Henry's parents." Jeremy was a handsome looking man in his mid-30s with a military style haircut and fairly well-built muscles. His wife, Leah was a skinny woman in her late 20s with golden brown curls that flew past her shoulders.

Jeremy nodded in greeting to Eric while his wife offered her hand. Shaking it, he greeted, "Hi."

"Nice to meet you," Leah greeted.

"Likewise," Eric replied.

Nell nodded towards the woman who gave her a look earlier when they separated and introduced them to him, "This is my older sister, Tessa and her husband Richard. They're Timothy, Alex, and Katelyn's parents." Tessa was rather tall considering her sister's stature. She stood at 5'7 and looked about 32 while her husband stood an inch less than his own height, which was 6'0.

"So, this is the infamous Eric." Her sister finally said.

While Nell just nodded, Eric offered his free hand and shook in greeting with everybody.

"You better treat her right, Eric." Her brother, Jeremy stated bluntly.

Eric wrapped his arm tighter around Nell and replied while looking the man straight in the eye, "Always."

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**A/N: Reviews are much appreciated! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! :D**


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